news, summer, school, and the garden....
Somedays it makes me happy to read the news. Today was one of those
days. The California supreme court upheld the domestic partnership law,
saying that the Prop 22 referred to "marriage" not domestic
partnerships. I saw yesterday that Canada passed the first part of the
bill that would legalized same-sex marriage. Today I read that Spain
legalized them as well. From Spain: The bill, which became law
immediately, says: "Matrimony shall have the same requirements and
effects regardless of whether the persons involved are of the same or
different sex." I knew at least one other country allowed same-sex
marriages but I didn't realize that Spain became the 3rd to do so along
with Belgium and the Netherlands. This is good news for many of my
friends. I just hope our country gets with it eventually. Even same-sex
civil unions would be a start.
In other news the children so far are surviving the summer. They
have yet to even get in a lot of trouble. Of course that may be a
result of keeping them busy. We started reading the Secret Garden out
loud. After we are done reading we will watch the movie as well. I also
found a book at the library with activities, recipes, and more inside
information about the book. The children even ate porridge. I was
amazed. I have promised them oatcakes when we get to that part of the
book.
I did get some good news this week about fall as well. The children
have been approved to stay at the Elementary school where they have
been. It isn't totally official yet but it has been approved. This is
just wonderful news as we like the school and the teams we have dealt
with so far. Many of the teachers we like and know are staying up
there. Granted there will be a lot of changes as the school goes from
650+ kids in grades K-4 to about 400 kids and grades K-5. Overall I
think it will be a much better move than going to a school that is
converting from a middle school down to an elementary school. We are
very happy and pleased, I just want to see the official notification.
I have been experimenting with recipes a bit more for things from
scratch. With my sensitivity to process foods because of the iodized
salt this is important. Last night we had tacos with tortillas. I made
the tortillas from a recipe I had but have never tried. I used a
all-purpose/whole-wheat pastry flour mixture so they had a bit of body
to them. Overall I am pleased with how they turned out. I didn't like
how crisp they got and will need to work on my rolling out skills. Good
start and I will be making them again. We had also had fry bread tacos
not too long ago as well. Those were pretty good and again I need to
practice how I make them.
My yard and garden is scary. I am behind on working in it. The grass
is too tall and I am struggling with my week whacker to get it down.
For some reason my weed whacker will not advance the line out like it
is supposed too. I am hoping to borrow a lawnmower with a grass catcher
to get the lawn down by the end of the week. The beds are not too bad
and I have made some progress on the weeds as well. Alaric's lambs ear
is huge! It is taller than me and now has a spiky yellow flower on the
top of it. It really needs to be moved. So far not a whole lot of
watering has needed to be done either. I do have some more irises and
some daylilies that I can go dig up at a friends when I have places to
put them. I am hoping the more plants I cram in the beds the less I
have to weed. So far it has been working in the front foundation beds.